Well, I am only going to be in Jakarta for 5 hours. I ran into a horrific situation last time in Bali where none of the ATMs ould take my debit card, the two AMEX ATMs were broken, and where I was staying would not accept any of my credit cards. And I had no phone service. And the company who arranged everything would not loan me a phone, and had no interest in helping me at all!

Next question-I've spent about 5 hours so far trying to apply for a visa on arrival. i now can't get the application to accept any form of my passport in a PDF form. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks!

I had to make sure there was no glare in the picture and all four corners of the page were visible. Also make sure the file is not too large - I went with a higher resolution conversion originally and it would not accept it but then tried a lower quality (but still clear) converted pdf under 500kb and it worked fine. Go figure. Getting the e-VOA is totally worth it though, I don't think I ever got through immigrations that quickly at any airport before. I just went straight to the e-gates and scanned my passport and was out in seconds.

Just got mine done yesterday.
Make sure your passport copy includes both pages of the passport when opened to the photo ID page.
Despite the sample on the application form showing only 1 page, the system will reject it unless you have both pages.

Don't submit PDFs. Submit JPEGs.

Any thoughts on the best order to do eVoA & regular VoA?

We need to enter twice in the next three weeks, thoughts were that doing the regular manual one first into CGK might make the most sense, then apply for an eVoA for the second entry?

We land ~4pm on Sunday into CGK and then a couple of weeks later have a later 8pm arrival into DPS, so not sure which would likely be easiest/quickest 🤷‍♂️

I would do the Evoa first, and then you have 2 weeks to apply for another Evoa online while traveling.

ah ok interesting- I wasn’t sure if you’d be able to apply for a second one if the first was still ‘active’ per se 🙏

I don't think you can, but you can apply for the second after you leave Indonesia the first time.

We’ve got a flight coming up arriving from Doha on Qatar T3 with a 2h45m connection to a separate ticket Scoot flight out of T2. Carry-on only, eVisa and customs form will be completed prior to arrival. I’m assuming this will be an OK connection? There is a Scoot flight 1.5 hours after our flight in case things go sideways.

Is the Plaza Premium still the best lounge option in T2?

That would be too tight a connection for my comfort.
I assume Scoot check-in closes an hour prior to departure?
Immigration and customs could be a while, and I am not sure how you intend to go from T3 to T2.
I would book the later flight to start with.

Applied for and was approved for an Evoa but just noticed the issue date and the must enter before date on the visa are the same day (today 12/28). Obviously this is a mistake in their systems but is there any way to fix this or am I just out the cost of the visa?

You made me check my current one.
Date of issue 04/12/2024
Must be used before 03/03/2025

In your case, I would take a printed copy of the EVOA to the immigration desk, and if they ask any
questions point out the date issued date. The worst that can happen is they send you back to buy a VOA.

i have an upcoming 8 hour CGK connection, arriving around 4pm on GA from SYD, then departing at midnight on CX to HKG on a separate ticket. I'd like to go into Jakarta for dinner. Any reason why that wouldn't be easy to do?

No reason at all, unless you'd prefer to avoid the cost and (slight) faff of a the visa you'll most probable require. But your free time in the city would likely be dramatically reduced from the headline 8 hours. Getting through the airport is rarely a streamlined process, and depends on arrival patterns and your visa route. Rush hour traffic will be building up by the time you get fully landside and into a taxi. Getting back to the airport around 10pm will be easier. The train into the city could beat the rush hour traffic: it's far cheaper than a taxi and takes around 40 minutes to BNI City station but you'd need to consult the timetable https://experiencesonar.com/article/...-airport-train


HOWEVER, unless you have pressing needs to be in the city itself, you could consider PIK (Pantai Indah Kapuk). It's a large upmarket suburb/mini-city, home to wealthy residents and a lively entertainment/commercial sector. It's around 20 minutes from the airport and the route is not heavily impacted by the city's rush hour traffic. PIK Avenue mall is where you'd aim for. It's linked to the Swissotel and Mercure hotels. Maybe not much different to Jakarta's other high-end malls, but it does boast some excellent opportunities for dinner - or for extended café-grazing.

Thanks so much IAN-UK for the great info and suggestions. I don't want to spend 7 hours in an airport and would rather get out of the airport and spend some time in the city. PIK sounds interesting.